Breakwater and pier and method of making the same



A. C. RUSH.

BREAKWATER AND PIER AND METHUD 0F MAKING THESAME.

APPLICATION FILED luNEz. w16.

1 ,$375,232. Patented Apr. 19, 1921.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

A. C. RUSH.

h BREAKWATER AND PIER AND METHOD 0F MAKING THE SAME.

APPLICATION FILED IUNE Z6. I9l6. 1,375,232, Patented Apr. 19, 1921.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

LLL- in@ oo Y Y 1 ooooooo oooooooo oooooooooo ooooooooooo oooocooooooo oooooooooooo oooooooooooo oo'ooooooooco oooooooooooo 'ooooooooooooo o ooo oooo oo oo oooooloaoooo4 00o ooo oo Oooo ooo con fade/dor Zan (f5/fiar )w/w pier bases spaced apart on a loose or sedij Anarransrarns Partnr orriii.

ALLAN o. RUSH, or' Los ANGELES, CALIFORNIA.

BREAKWATER AND PER AND METHOD MAKING V'EI-1E SAME.

intense.

To all whom t may concern:

it known that I, ALLAN Crnus RUSH, a citizen of the United States7 residing at Los Angeles, in the county of Los Angeles and lState of California, have invented a new anduseful Brealwater and Pier and Method of Making the Same, of which the following is a specification.

Vi-in object of this invention iste make provision whereby an ocean frontY in comparatively shallow waters may be converted into a harbor, and incidentally to this object the invention includes a pier base construction forA loose formation such as sandy4 or mud' bottoms. f

'A principle of the invention in one of itsv` applications is the construction of suitable mentary deposit and arranged to direct wave, swell or current action into internal combat so as to neutralize the destructive force thereof and toV protect the waters otherwise subject to suoli force, with a minimum expanse of, and expense for, protective structure.

lt is well knownthat along many coasts there are shallow waters of sufiicient depths for floating the largest vessels and yet unavailable for harbor purposes on account of` the danger from the high seas; and that it has heretofore been deemed impossible yto I build piers to protect such waters for the reason that the ocean bottom formation is loose for vdepths too great to allow the pier substructure to reach a solid formation Y therebeneath without prohibitive expense or Y diiliculty of construction.

An object of this invention is to provide a stable pier structure that will give a suit able foundationcapable of resisting all theV forces and the stress and strain to which the same may be subjected.

The invention is'not only capable of such use. but it is also adapted to afford a solidy Application filed June 26, 1916. Serial( No. r106,075.

the appended claims.

Specification ofILetters Patent. E'gttntcd Api', 19,19%1.

or swells yand will break them up causing the waterto lift itself andfail back to de-' stroy its own momentum, with minimum destructive tendency toward breaking orA undermining the pier.

- An object is to stabilize a wave resisting pier or sea wall on a soft or loose bottom of sand,'silt or sedimentary deposits.

I regard the invention as broadly new and pioneerin various features among which may be mentioned the formation of a sea-wall formed of individual piers spaced apart and arranged tov direct the wave action `to inter-` nal combat to neutralize the momentum Vof the waves and tide; the construction of a pier with a forwardly projecting point with wave deflecting rear wings to break long swells and waves to destroyV their force; the,

pier structure comprising a massive monolithic body adapted to have a superstructure thereupon and resting'on a sedimentitious bottom, and piles integral with such body and extending down from such body intoV such bottom' reinforcing means which interlock the pilesand also serve as stabilizing means for the pier; a bed of wood or other compressible material laid in the monolithic body on top of the piles for resiliently suporting the superstructure and the monolithic body above the wooden bed; abed of crossed iron rails on the wooden bed for reinforcing the monolithic body above the wooden bed and for distributing equally the weight ofthe superstructure and the monolithio body above the piles and the wooden bed; and also the construction of the pier front receding rearwardly from an intermediate point and 'sloping rearwardly so as to break the waves and curl them over upon themselves so that each wave will tend to destroy the force of a succeeding wave.

Other objects, advantages, and features of novelty may appear from the accompanying drawings, the subjoined specification and The invention may erence vto the accompanying drawings.

Figure l is a perspective view showing at low, tide, bridge piers and breakwater piers constructed in accordance with this invention. c

Fig. 2 is a broken elevation partly in section of one of the units shown in Fig. 1.

A portion of the temporary cofferdam made v of joined piles is also shown.

be understoodr by ref- Fig. 3 is an enlarged broken Asectional detail elevation of the pier structure shown 'in Figs. l and 2, omitting the water.A

on a larger scale than the other figures, ofd

a pier in completed construction.

Fig. 6 is a plan of a' pier base in com pleted construction .before the cofferdam has been removed. Parts are broken away to show various features of construction. j s

Referring to Figs. 2, 5 and 6, the cofferdam a may be of any practical structure and is shown as constructed of .tongue and groove piling of the character commonly in use for constructing cofferdams, said piling being driven into the sand or mud bottom Z to a depth sulicient to enable the operator to pump out the water, sand and other debris within said cofferdam a, to a suitable depth above the bottom of such cofferdam. The piling l for the pier base structure ymay bey of any appropriate length, say 150 feet more or less7 and piling ofvthis character may be 1d to 18 inches, more or less, in diameter at the upper end. rthese piles may be of any suitable character and material,

Vas wood, reinforced concrete or equivalents therefor, and are driven in any well known way as `by hydraulic, electrical or drop weight means to a required depth in the sand or mud Vbottom The work of driving saic piles may be largely done before the cofferdam is built. After the cofferdam has been built and the piles 1 have been driven to such depth as may be convenient and appropriate, the water inside the coiferdam will be pumped out, and thereupon the piles l may be cut off or driven to bring their tops to a depth or level below the level of the water surrounding` the cofferdam. rThe piles may be spaced apart a greater or less distance and are shown as beingrspaced about two feet apart. down, they compress the soft Vbed between them and together with the compressed bed form a strong and solid foundation.

lWhen the cofferdam e has been constructed and the water inside the same has been pumped out, and the tops of the 'piles have been driven down or cut off to the required depth, armold c is placed upon the bottom and extends upward around the body or cluster of driven piles 1, and then a concrete lling of a more or less reinforced character is built within the mold o and directly on 'the compressed and solidified bottom. The concrete filling 2 between the piles may be without reinforcement throughout its lower portion andthe concrete collar 3 between the mold c Vand the body or-cluster of `piles may be wellsupplied with reinforce reinforced concrete collar.

As the piles are driven.

upper portion of the softl formation ment l from the bottom `to the top, so that the pile lcluster is entirely surrounded by a The principal reinforcing elements 5 of the concrete vbetween the piles may be located mainly near the level of the top of the piles asindicated by the railroad 'l' irons 5, but ties 5 of iron, steel or other suitable material may be appliedr at appropriate points, When the mold c has been filled with concrete with and without reinforcing as inf dicated in Fig. 5, to the tops of the piles, a cap 6 of wood or other suitable yielding material may be laid upon the concrete and the pile tops and projecting laterally beyond therpiletops, and upon the top of said wooden cap, two sets 7, 8 of reinforcingand structural irons, such as railroad T irons, are arranged in cross relation to eachother, and the spaces between the reinforcing elements thus applied are filled in with con` crete so that the cap 6 alsois embedded therein, and finally the whole is entirely covered by a concrete layer 9, which may or ay not be reinforced, according to the judgment of the constructor. The lwork of construction is carried on Ain a well known sov manner so as to make a practically rein-y forced monolith of sufficient size, say, d0() feet in length by 300 feet in width..V rlhe pier base is thus completed and preferably terminates below the level of the water outside of the coiferdam. Y

ln this way the base structure, including the wooden piles, wooden cap, the reinforc ing T rails, Von top of said `cap'and the protecting cover 9 of concrete, vare all belowv the level of the water at low tide, so that they are practically protected from atmospheric action. Upon the topV of the covering a superstructure l0 of any suitable material may be built. Saidsuperstructure is shown in the drawings as constructedof granite blocks. n

ln the course of construction, whenl the mold c has been'stationed onthebottom Z) a trench will be dug just inside the mold, sothat as the concrete is poured, there will be formed concrete lip or apron 11 which will extend down below the levelof the bot- "11 more or less, in depth.

The purpose ofthis lip is to confine the i033-, which the pier base is formed.

ligtis understood that any-depth ofezca-- ation may bem de around thev cluster of piles within the 3udgment and at the Vcon- Avenience of the constructor.

It'may be found advisable toprovidesuch a reinforcement for the structural piles l in addition to the ties 5, 5, 7 and 8, that the `pier base is also stabilized thereby, and for this purpose the piles are preferably coniso nected by means of bands, links or rings 13 Vof galvanized iron, steel or other suitable p material applied at intervals fromthe level n depth below theA concrete body: thereof.

Said piles may or'may not extend to bed rock indicated at Z in Fig. 3. Y

'ln theV process of driving vthe piles 1t is deemed desirable to begin centrally of theV space to be covered and to drive piles therearound until the requisite number yof piles I are driven. By this method, the consolidation of the mud, silt or sand caused by driving the piles, need not be such'as to prevent driving` the piles'by' an ordinary pile-driver buta great ronsolidation of the bottom Zn is thus effected. Y A

The overhanging Yorprojecting collar 3 is symmetrically arranged relative to the clusf' ter of piles and said cluster as a whole has a coefficient of strength andV stability far in excess of that to which the structure may be subjected. Y

The downwardly extending lip 11 incloses an upper stratum of the soft bottom b, and the hydrostatic pressure tends to force the soft bottoni up into the space between the lip 11 and the cluster of piles 1 and the'interstitial filling formed betweenthe piles by the soft bottom b; thus adding greatly to the ultimate strength of the structure.

1t is understood that where deposits of silt, sand, or the like occur, there may in course of time occur changes of current tendingto wash away the bottom b and this is guarded against by the depth of piles below the surface. Vlf the bottom is cut away on one side, the piles thus exposed become resisting elements held in place by the interlocked mass of piles, reinforcing, ties and concrete.

In soineinstances heavy masses and blocks of stone c maybe filled into the space around the lip thus giving additional protection.

The piers constructed as set forth may be located to face the open sea as indicated at 14 in Fig, 1 and may be used as bridge piers as indicated at 1li in said Fig. 1, 'it

being understood that the pier construction in each instance is practically the same.

Each pier is provided with one or more prow like projections 15, and their front surfaces are somewhat conformed to the shape of a double mold boa-rd plow and serve as deflectors, being curved in horizontal traces as at 16 and receding rearwardly on feach sfidev Iof the central Pfol action *ff-)ir nose 15, andthe faces 17 slant upward and backward and are curved both in verticaland horizontal directions and areprovid'ed' along the bottom with a riser 18,*its'top sloping upward from the central pointorj' nose 1r so that waves impinging against pier will'be Vdeflected laterally and up, land so that Athe force lofthe waves is exerted` measurably downward to hold the structure in placeand the energy is erpended largely v inlifting the water'by its own action.

The piers are arranged adjacent to each other closeenough together to cause the deflected waters from two adjoining piers to combat each other thus neutralizing their forces. Y

Front faces 17, 18 may `be provided on two sides of thesame pier as shown so as to take care ofwave action from different di-l rections. at'fdifierent times. This maysometime prove `of great service, as at the mouths of rivers or estuaries where destructive forces, floods andv tides may occur.

1t is understood that the' dimensions and relative proportions Amay vary greatly to"l l Y y 1n some instances the breakwater` or sea AwallV pro-V accommodate diflierent conditions.

tector for a harbor f maybe formed of a series of piers 14 of'llOO feet length and 3 0() .feet width and 50 feet depth, the piles 1 be-'vv Y ing formed as integral downwardy extensions thereof seated in the sedimentary bed b.

upon which the bottom 12 ofthemonolithic body rests. VThe surrounding Yreinforced concrete collar -3 may extend 30 feet, more or less, beyond'the pile clusterk an'dmayk bel 50 feet, more or less, in depth, and mayj be more or less submerged.

0n an open coast an incoming wave may be many hundred feet long and may come landward with tremendous power. 1n practical operation such wave meets the sharp point of the pierand iscut iny two. This lessens its power, and the momentum of the upper portion of the wave being greater than that of the lower portion, the upper portion rises 4as it advances, and pushes on and part of it drops back and part is too strong and deflects to each side of the pier. The dei'iected water from adjacent piers co acts and the line of piers is thus made ef fective as a breakwater. The deflected portions of the wave come together between the two breakwater sections 14, strike upon each other and destroy their own power with the result that this form of breakwater will take the place of a solid wall that under the prac-Y .Theorossed railway iron with theinterstitialeconcrete forms a heavy,y rigidY and i Vsolidfbed on top of the piles so, that the thev cluster ofV piles.

pressure above the piles lto support the superstructure will be equally distributed over A It should in thisfconnection'l be noted that the cap is of a comy pressible material vand therefore resiliently supports the superstructure and the monolithic base above the piles and the cap, thereby allowing the center of the superstructure to settle somewhat and thus to compensate the .external settling of the piling and to compact the sand or silt within the compass of the piling. y

The heavyweight ofthe T-rail bed or its equivalent also serves to give great resisting power tothe pier. I Y ,Y

The pier constructionis especially adaptedforY supporting-heavy bridge superstrucported center and the soft bed supported rim of concrete outside the piles.

It is understood that the dimensions mentioned hereinare not arbitrary and that they and other features of construction may be changed within the judgment of the constructor without departing from the spirit of the invention.

vI claim:

1. A pier having a forward'projection and lrearwardly extending curved faces Vsloping'upwardly from the front toward the rear, the loweredge of saidupward Y slope being higher. at the ends of said curved faces than at said projection so that the water impelled by wave action will be lifted and at the same timefdeflected laterally to neutralize its own momentum.

v2. A` series of piers forming afbreakwater outside of a shore, eachpier'having a for* ward projection and rearwardly extending curved faces sloping upwardly y'from the front toward the rear, and the lower edge of Vthe upward slope being higher at the ends of the curved faces than at the projection so that the water impelled by the action ofV the waves will be lifted and deflected for the purpose of neutralizing its own momentum. .Y

3. A series Vof piers spaced apart and forming a brcakwater outside of ya shore, each pier having a forward projection and rearwardly extending curved faces sloping upwardly from the front toward the rear, and the lower edge of the upward slope being higher atV the ends of the curved faces `than at the projection so that the water impelled by the action of the waves will be lifted and deflected for the purpose of neu-k tralizing its own momentum.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set Los Angeles, California, thisVV my hand at 21st day of June, 1916.v Y

ALLAN C. RUSH.

Witness: Y

' JAMES R. ToWNsEND. 

